The ad says“Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)”
The ad says“Experience with relational and NoSQL databases in production (we use MySQL, Redis, and Cassandra)”
The ad says“Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)”
The ad says“Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)”
The ad says“Proficiency in at least one of Strava’s backend languages (Ruby, Scala, Go, Java) with comfort picking up others”
The ad says“Proficiency in at least one of Strava’s backend languages (Ruby, Scala, Go, Java) with comfort picking up others”
The ad says“Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)”
The ad says“Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)”
The ad says“Experience with relational and NoSQL databases in production (we use MySQL, Redis, and Cassandra)”
The ad says“Experience with relational and NoSQL databases in production (we use MySQL, Redis, and Cassandra)”
The ad says“Proficiency in at least one of Strava’s backend languages (Ruby, Scala, Go, Java) with comfort picking up others”
The ad says“Proficiency in at least one of Strava’s backend languages (Ruby, Scala, Go, Java) with comfort picking up others”
The ad says“Familiarity with server-driven UI patterns”
The ad says“Strong system design skills for distributed systems at scale: making architecture decisions, defending trade-offs, and thinking about how a system needs to evolve over multiple years”
Strava’s Core Services Platform teams build the scalable foundations behind the features athletes use most
We’re hiring for teams which build the foundational technology behind Strava features like the feed and photo/video sharing, as well as capabilities like experimentation and notifications
We’re looking for a Staff Engineer to set the technical direction for this domain and act as tech lead for a small pod of engineers
This is a role for someone who wants to own the technical vision for how Strava’s social features work under the hood
You’ll drive major modernization efforts across critical services, partner with product teams to ensure platform capabilities are ready when they need them, and shape how we approach social platform development for years to come
Set the technical direction for Strava’s social platform services and build the roadmap that balances long-term architectural investments with near-term product delivery
Act as tech lead for a small pod of engineers, facilitating team processes like quarterly planning, sprint ceremonies, and cross-team coordination
Solve tough technical problems and lead small teams to execute those solutions, even if it means stepping outside your usual domain
Drive modernization and migration efforts for critical platform services, evolving our stack to meet the needs of the product roadmap and Strava’s growing athlete base
Partner with product teams to inform the roadmap to proactively identify upcoming needs and have the right capabilities available at the right time
Own a strategy for technical investment across the social domain, ensuring critical services meet reliability, performance, and cost standards
Design, build, and review the systems that back Strava’s most-used social features, working across Ruby, Scala, Go, MySQL, Redis, Cassandra, Kafka, and Kubernetes
Mentor engineers on the pod and across the Strava tech team
Benefits
100% company paid benefits for employees and families
Flexible paid time off
$2,000 annual professional development stipend
Paid time off for volunteering
401(k) plan - with company matching
$1000 annual gear stipend
$500 annual gym or coaching reimbursement
On-site fitness rooms with showers, lockers, and towel service
Weekly team workouts – including remote employees
Safe and secure bike storage on-site
Weekly all hands meetings
Employee resource groups
Anti-racism nonprofit company matching program
Free lunch on Wednesdays on-site
Regular team happy hours
Team offsites and company retreats
Cell phone reimbursement
Generous industry discounts on gear and activities
Race entries to events we sponsor
Snacks and stocked kitchens on-site
Strava gear
Stock options
Preferred experience
Experience with distributed systems technologies like Kafka, Kubernetes, Docker, and cloud infrastructure (AWS)
Experience acting as a tech lead, facilitating team processes and driving roadmaps
Experience leading technical projects involving multiple engineers: scoping work, breaking it down, coordinating delivery across a team
10+ years of professional backend/server engineering experience, with a track record of setting technical direction
A genuine interest in leading the team to prioritize the right work, and deliver it well. You’re interested in more than just putting your head down on an assigned project
Strong system design skills for distributed systems at scale: making architecture decisions, defending trade-offs, and thinking about how a system needs to evolve over multiple years
Proficiency in at least one of Strava’s backend languages (Ruby, Scala, Go, Java) with comfort picking up others
Experience with relational and NoSQL databases in production (we use MySQL, Redis, and Cassandra)
Experience with large-scale system migrations (e.g., moving a critical service from one language/framework to another)
Experience with feed systems, social graphs, or recommendation/ranking systems
Familiarity with server-driven UI patterns
We’re not looking for 100% coverage on all of these — if you match most of them, we’d love to hear from you:
